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I get sent a lot of gear to review each year. In this guide I’ve put together the best jackets for being out on the trail hiking or camping. I’ve avoided big brands sold in stores for a huge markup and in stead focused on brands that sell direct to you offering massively more features for half the price. I’ve included everything you might want from a light packable rain jacket to a full on puffer hoodie and saved the best until last with a Ski Jacket that reflects colors like a squid.

I’ve selected jackets that are exceptionally well made and fitted so you can wear them in town as much as you do out on the trails They start as low as $39 so there is something here to suit every budget.

Great Light Packable Rain Shower – Topo Ultralight Jacket

This super Ultralight Jacket from Topo Designs is perfect for the ‘April Showers’ season. For runners and hikers the fact that it packs up super small means you can take this in your pocket with you in case of the odd shower and its currently on sale for an amazing $39.

The material weighs almost nothing, but is strong and water and wind resistant. This is the jacket to get you through a 20 min rain shower or if you get slightly cold on run or walk. The jacket makes a sensible sacrifice of breathability and features like pockets in exchange for space age lightness.

Read my more in depth review here.

PURCHASE $39

Best Lightweight Summer Jacket – Cortazu Mid Layer Jacket

There are a lot of reasons to love the Cortazu Mid Layer All Season Jacket. Its lightweight (very very light) and yet somehow warm when it needs to be. Its breathable and has a water repellent coating as well as being able to pack up easily into a small bundle to store away. It has large zip pockets and an internal pocket for your keys and phone and comes with a stylish hood that is hidden away inside the collar. Cortazu only sell direct from their website and avoid the costs to consumer that comes with selling through stores so as a result you get a jacket of absolute top notch quality for half the price you would expect.

Combine the Cortazu value ethos with the excellent tailoring that actually manages to make even me look good in it and you get a jacket that’s as effective on a hike or trail run as it is with jeans on a Saturday evening. The Cortazu Mid Layer All Season Jacket gives you a superb mid layer in winter under a warmer jacket or waterproof, a summer jacket to throw on as the evening cools and everything inbetween. If this jacket is a sign of the whole Cortazu range then it should have North Face and Arcteryx in a tailspin of panic.

Read my more in depth review here.

PURCHASE $183

Best Rain Jacket – Topo Global Jacket

The Topo Designs Global Jacket is waterproof and breathable with some superb big side pockets you can use for vents to cool down if you get hot. This jacket has all waterproof zips, a fully adjustable hood with visor and excellent high collar to keep the rain off your face. Packs up super small using its hanging strap. A good fit to size with enough room left over for any layers beneath too for the worst of outdoor conditions.

At $189 this jacket is all high end features. A great quality jacket for a reasonable price for hikers, trail runners and climbers. I used this jacket continuously on my 9 day 340 mile Leatherman Loop last year. You can read the full review here and a much more in depth blog here about a wider range of Waterproof Jackets.

PURCHASE $189

Trail Warm and Office Smart – Outerknown Evolution Jacket

This jacket bridges your weekend and your weekday. Its warm enough for a tough winter hike (with nice big warm fleece pockets for your hands too) while being smart enough that you can zip the hood off the collar and wear it to work with a tie on Monday.

When you combine how much use you can get out of Evolution Hooded Jacket, the quality construction and tailoring and the fact that the jacket is 100% recycled from water bottles you get to fully appreciate what a unique brand Outerknown are. You’ll buy it for the trails, but wear it more to work.

Read my more in depth review of this jacket here.

PURCHASE $248

The Fleece/Jacket Hybrid – Topo Sub Alpine Fleece

When you combine a jacket and a fleece its hard to decide if its called a Flacket or a Jeece. The Sub Alpine Fleece from Topo Designs combines features from both to give you a quirky retro looking jacket that’s straight out of Stranger Things. The Sub Alpine is very warm with a thick polartec fleece lining and outer layer with DWR waterproof coated sections on the arms and chest areas to keep snow and splashes from rain off.

The Sub Alpine comes with two huge zipped pockets for your hands, and 2 smaller pockets on the chest for phone, keys, wallet etc. There are also two very very large pockets inside for things like gloves or hat. It packs up surprisingly small in a stuff bag and is the perfect jacket to have on you when you need to throw something on to get instantly warm. Read my in depth review of this jacket here.

PURCHASE $189

The Puffer/Hoodie Hybrid for on the move – Topo Puffer Hoodie

When Im more active I prefer to have a puffer thats made of synthetic materials as they wick faster and dry quicker if I get sweaty. This great puffer hoodie from Topo is filled with synthetic loft material that is made from 100% recycled materials and has loads of pockets for your hands, a chest pocket and even an internal zip pocket.

Because its a synthetic puffer it also packs up super small so its easy to keep out the way in a pack when its not needed. This is that perfect ‘grab’ jacket for all the times you are on trail or simply going in to town at the weekend and the weather is changeable.

PURCHASE $179

Sat by the Campfire – Outerknown Hooded Puffer

As Hooded Puffers go the Outerknown Puffer Hoodie does what all good hooded puffers do. Keeps you warm and packs away small when you don’t need it. I prefer a duck down filled puffer at the end of days outdoors when I’m standing around more. As far as gimmicks and gizmos and things that make you go ‘oooooooooh’ this jacket has none of those. Instead you get a well thought out, well made, generously tailored DWR coated jacket that gives you two colors for the price of one by being genuinely reversible. What you also get is clothing brand that has a sustainable planet friendly ethos, which isn’t a surprise given its roots with the professional surfer Kelly Slater.

What you get is a jacket that basically pulls rubbish from the sea, recycles water bottles and uses ethically sourced duck down. What you get is a puffer that Greta Thunberg would use. Read my more in depth log review for this jacket here.

PURCHASE $248

Insane Ski/ Snowboarding Jacket – Vollebak Black Squid Jacket

This jacket isn’t about its superb build quality, laser cut fabrics, high tec assembly in a state of the art factory or useful features for severe weather. This jacket is a working wearable piece of art, or a James Bond like invention to defeat villains. Either way none of their gear is a hard sell, you are either ‘All In’ ( the translation of the words Volle and Bak) or you aren’t.

The material the jacket uses has a resin that has thousands and thousands of glass reflective beads in it that refract and reflect light in all directions causing the jacket to literally reflect in every color possible all over. The result is so startling its actually hard to understand the three dimensional shape you are looking at in front of you and I’m not sure any camera can really capture how nuts it is. Read my in depth review about this crazy jacket here.

Verdict

That’s my list of the best waterproof and breathable jackets. I’ve also posted a link to Amazon below with some of the lowest price great value budget waterproof jackets as well.

If you liked the guide then why not take a look at my Ultra Runners Kit List Guide, Blister and Foot Care Guide or my Wild Camping Guide as well as my guide to trail shoes or my guide to waterproof jackets here.